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Another Afrobarometer Blow

By Daily Guide
Editorial President John Mahama
NOV 18, 2014 LISTEN
President John Mahama

Last week, another Afrobarometer report was released on public services. It highlighted poor service delivery of utility companies and other social services like healthcare and schools. This is coming on the heels of a recent one which virtually painted a gloomy picture about the country.

In the earlier report, majority of Ghanaians—about 82 percent—believed that the country is heading in the 'wrong direction' because of bad leadership by the current administration.

The latest report has dealt another blow to the tottering Mahama administration whose competence in dealing with the numerous challenges facing the country is clearly being questioned.

Appointees and propagandists of the NDC administration have argued about the methodology of the surveys but that should be left to the social scientists and the political propagandists to argue out.

The reality on the ground is that social services provision is in disarray, with regular unannounced power cuts becoming part of the daily lives of Ghanaians. Potable water is in short supply, with cholera bestriding communities like colossus. As at the last count, over 200 people had been killed by the ravaging disease.

The road sector is a no go area because apart from intra city roads, including the road leading to the new 'presidential palace' at Cantonments where the President has been residing since his vice presidential days, intercity roads as well as highways are nothing to write home about.

Not only have roads developed potholes and craters but manholes as well, making commuting very difficult and affecting economic activities.

To even make the matter worse, the Monetary Policy Committee of the Bank of Ghana rose from its third quarter meeting last week with a declaration that the country's debt portfolio is almost at an unsustainable level of over GH¢65 billion from GH¢9 billion in just six years. This was as at August 2014 and by the close of the year the country would have hit 60 percent debt to GDP ratio.

So if more money had been borrowed within the last six years in which every sector of the economy was crying for bail-out, what was the money spent on, with hardship becoming a daily chorus among Ghanaians?

We think that the Afrobarometer reports are good indicators and reflections of the state of Ghana today and an opportunity for the government to gauge the pulse or feelings of the people instead of the outright rejection by the people in power who believe that everything is on course.

The President says Ghanaians like complaining; in other word, 'we complain too much'.

We don't think that Ghanaians have developed the appetite for complaining just because their government is underperforming.

So if the government and the people are singing from different hymn books, that tells you that things are not okay.

The earlier the government sat up in addressing the numerous social challenges facing the people, the better; otherwise, it will laugh on the wrong side of its mouth. By then, it will be too late.

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